You can't really LOL, not outdoors... since you can't control pollinators and wind. But you could be proactive at manually hand pollinating female flowers promptly with male flowers of the same plant, so they can be pollinated as they aught to... But unless you want to save seed true to type, then really I wouldn't worry about it, you're still gonna get your fruits :-) Though honestly I don't recommend the Tower Garden or any build of this type, for growing Melons. Honestly the water requirement for those large fruiting plants is so much, on hot summer days you're gonna have to top up the reservoir way too regularly lol, becomes a bit of a chore. Whatever you do though, happy growing :-)
Michelle Wald I use rockwool cubes. While you can reorder them from the company I find it more practical and inexpensive to go to a local hydroponics store and buy a whole case of them there. You gotta remember to dip them in a solution with tonic first, and ensure the pH of that water is a bit on the acidic side (add a lil fresh lemon juice if you like for this), in order to ensure better germination success. Hope that helps!
Hi! 👋🏼 I just got my tower garden all set up and I’m excited to watch my plants grow. How often should I check the ph and how often should I provide the nutrients? Or does the ph dictate the adding of the nutrients?
Hey there, congrats on getting set up! The pH should be checked any time to make changes to the water in the reservoir. So if you add water that is not a neutral pH of 7.0, you should check and see if your reservoir needs adjusting. If you add in nutrients that are not a pH of 7.0 (and the Tower Tonics are NOT), then you should also again check the pH in the reservoir. You want the pH of the water to stay at 6.5 give or take a little, but 6.5 is the sweet spot. When to add Nutrients is different if you're growing outside or inside. But I'm going to assume you are growing Outdoors. If you're using tap water that already has minerals and particulates in it than using a PPM reader to determine when Nutrients should be added is not really an option. So you'll have to stick to basics, and just add the amount of nutrients the bottle says to add as per the amount of water you add. So basically every time you add water to fill up the reservoir, add in nutrients as needed per that amount of water you added. Then do the pH testing and adjust as needed. After a while if you're always adding in the same amount of water+nutrients when you top up, you get to know how much pH adjuster ( + or - ) you need and you can stop taking readings, but that's when you're confident and sure :-) Also remember that in the first month or so when the plants are just little seedlings, they don't need a lot of nutrients so only give half strength of whatever you are using. A little less is safer than too much! So as not to burn the plants (nutrient burn). Hope that helps!
Joel - do you water from the top or bottom of the tray only? I live in FL and I keep my seedlings outside and I'm going on week 7 with very little growth.
Hey Stacey, whenever possible always water seedlings from the bottom, especially if they are sitting out for quite a long while and Algae begins to develop, won't necessarily hurt the plants at least not in short term but light and moisture does propagate the algae. If your seeds have sprouted and you're not having a germination issue, just slow growth, there's 3 main factors to look at: 1) stressing plant with too much water or the cubes drying out too frequently (I don't know what your temperature are so.... hotter weather obviously will wick water away more. 2) inadequate light. Light is the key factor for promoting growth at these early stages. 3) starving plants lol. If you are keeping them in rockwool cubes well past the plants establishing their true leaves, or even more than 1 or 2 nodes, these plants are gonna be hungry! A very diluted liquid nutrient solution can be added to the watering tray to remedy that. bonus 4) lol. If the ambient temperature is too low the moistened rockwool cubes might actually get cold to the touch, especially if outside in shade and it isn't that hot. These extreme temperatures can inhibit growth, whether too hot, or too cold, which you can feel when you touch the rockwool cubes. Remember too that some plants prefer colder weather and others much hotter weather, this will affect their early growth naturally, if growing a little out of season! These are the main factors that come to my mind atm. Hope it helps shine some light for ya! no pun intended :P
The big question. If you have time. What nutrient solution do you use, because you seem to grow a wide variety of plants. And what pH do you keep for this type of growth. Thank you
Hey there! So for the Tower Garden specifically I use the Tower Tonic solutions (A and B) which are sold by the company (Juice Plus+). They seem to cover the wide array of nutrients needed for optimal plant growth, in liquid form, for use in Hydroponics. I think the key to the Tower Tonics working well for nearly any plant you can grow in the Tower, is that it's pretty low on the NPK numbers and each of the 3 are in very close proximity to each other, quantity wise. So I think this doesn't over excite or neglect any plants' general needs. Also, I keep my pH at 6.5, I find that in general this is the most Universal marker for just about any plant I can grow in the Tower, and keeps everything relatively happy! Sometimes I get lazy and don't pH adjust the water if it's off a bit (after adding more water or Tonic) and I might notice a little "nutrient burn" on plant leaves, or discolorations likely from uptake deficiencies, but yet the plants don't die :-P I hope that helps!! Good luck with your Garden!
Hi Moses, This system is available on Tower Garden's web site. This is their Canadian web site www.towergarden.ca/shop They also have their American web site too.
Hey Eunice! Good question, this is common. It's not a nutrient issue it is a lighting issue. The lettuce REALLY wants a lot of LIGHT, and especially in the beginning when they are smaller and further away from the lights, they will stretch out and spindle around to try and get to the light. You really kinda need to germinate them first closely under T5's or equivalent, like I do in my DIY Hydroponics Unit, and when they are pretty well established transfer them to the Tower then, or try bringing the lights closer, and/or add 1 or 2 more lights to surround the tower. Excessive heat in the room will also cause this but does not sound like this is your problem, so 100%, lighting issue :-) This should help you begin remedying the problem!
Hi I have so many questions. 1 does it require electricity? 2- can you do root vegetables? Radishes/carrots etc.. 3- can you grow corn? 4 - price? Is it worth expense? 5- The nutrients. I have s family of 4 and the summer garden consists of your tower garden. What is the expense for a year worth of gardening this way? Thank you!I!!
Hey there! I can answer most of what you asked about. Yes the submersible pump requires to be plugged into a power outlet/extension cord. If you're using this outside you can just run an outdoors extension cord (green to match your lawn :-) ) and plug it to that. It uses very little power so if you wanted to get "fancy" you could even see what's available for home use in terms of solar powered generators/batteries and use that instead! That'd be helpful if the power in your house went out :-P Which happened to me once and good thing I was home to manually put water through the tower until power came back lol, but this is not really an issue any pump requires power no matter what system you use! No, you cannot do root veggies. I mean you could for the green foliage but it would grow pretty abysmally and no edible root would develop. Basically you can grow anything that's not specifically a tuber/root or shrub/tree :-) You should not grow corn for the same reason you shouldn't grow standard Broccoli. Aside from the fact that they are very heavy feeders for nutrients, some plants just develop Massive root systems which would be cumbersome on the Tower to keep the water everything else going efficiently. Some things are just best in soil, or a different style of hydroponics system that's not vertical. In Canada where I live a Tower Garden costs $617, I know it costs less in the USA. Since they let you purchase it split over 12 month period interest free, that's quite affordable I feel, for a very durable system! For ease and convenience I think it's worth the money. I'm not certain the entirety of what you're asking in your 5th point, but generally speaking one standard shipment of the Tower Tonic nutrient blends will last a whole season, for outside use. I use waaaaaay less using the Tower inside (although inside you have the added expense of running grow lights). So since rockwool cubes for growing medium are super cheap at ANY hydroponics store, and the nutrients last all year (generally) and pH+ or pH- can also be purchased very cost effectively at any local hydroponics store, honestly the cost of growing this way is super cheap. The big thing is just the initial investment of the tower that will last for years and years and years. I think you're good now :-) Good luck!
@@circuscats67 my friend you can use ANY seeds you like from anywhere :-D Small seeds use 3 or 4 large seeds use at least 2 per rockwool cube. Then thin them out later by picking the one strongest seedling. This will ensure you don't get any duds.
Hey there, I have a system set up where I keep two, 20L pales filled with water, ready to fill up the Reservoir when needed, and for EACH 20L of water I add in 105ml of Tonic A and 105ml of Tonic B into the reservoir for each refill I do. In fact I have it all pre-calculated after enough practice that I know eactly what needs to go in with each refill, that for me what I do, is put in 1 tablespoon of the pH DOWN solution (to balance the tap water pH), 205ml each of both Tonics, and THEN I pour in the 40L of water. Putting the water in last blends everything together nicely, saving me from even needing to stir, works out great :-) I hope that helps ya!
I just get whatever is locally available. I stopped buying online from outside of Canada in particular because of sometimes really poor germination, so I suspect irradiation occurs at border crossing or something, who knows. But there's always something available for pretty much anyone in your local neighbourhood, be at big box stores or garden centers. I've even seen seeds at Dollar Stores lol. Don't get to wrapped up on whether seeds are "organic" or not, because that doesn't mean anything. Organic refers to a method of more natural agriculture, it imparts nothing onto a seed you are starting with. The cool thing to do, is let some of your favourite veggies go to Seed and save them to plant next season! Not only do you not have to hunt down seeds for stuff you really like this way, but also those seeds will be better acclimated in their genetics, to the environment you are growing them in. But to answer your question in short lol.... Here in Ontario I've often opted for Urban Harvest, or Vesies, maybe some others I can't recall off top of my head. Good luck with your growing!
I dont have a any question for now because u already answered in comments what i need to know . Thanks, u r good person !
How do you keep the melons and cucumbers from cross pollinating?
You can't really LOL, not outdoors... since you can't control pollinators and wind.
But you could be proactive at manually hand pollinating female flowers promptly with male flowers of the same plant, so they can be pollinated as they aught to...
But unless you want to save seed true to type, then really I wouldn't worry about it, you're still gonna get your fruits :-)
Though honestly I don't recommend the Tower Garden or any build of this type, for growing Melons. Honestly the water requirement for those large fruiting plants is so much, on hot summer days you're gonna have to top up the reservoir way too regularly lol, becomes a bit of a chore.
Whatever you do though, happy growing :-)
What is the growing medium you use for sprouting?
Michelle Wald I use rockwool cubes. While you can reorder them from the company I find it more practical and inexpensive to go to a local hydroponics store and buy a whole case of them there. You gotta remember to dip them in a solution with tonic first, and ensure the pH of that water is a bit on the acidic side (add a lil fresh lemon juice if you like for this), in order to ensure better germination success. Hope that helps!
@@CardinalGardener
Hi thanks 🙏
Hi! 👋🏼 I just got my tower garden all set up and I’m excited to watch my plants grow. How often should I check the ph and how often should I provide the nutrients? Or does the ph dictate the adding of the nutrients?
Hey there, congrats on getting set up!
The pH should be checked any time to make changes to the water in the reservoir. So if you add water that is not a neutral pH of 7.0, you should check and see if your reservoir needs adjusting. If you add in nutrients that are not a pH of 7.0 (and the Tower Tonics are NOT), then you should also again check the pH in the reservoir.
You want the pH of the water to stay at 6.5 give or take a little, but 6.5 is the sweet spot.
When to add Nutrients is different if you're growing outside or inside. But I'm going to assume you are growing Outdoors. If you're using tap water that already has minerals and particulates in it than using a PPM reader to determine when Nutrients should be added is not really an option. So you'll have to stick to basics, and just add the amount of nutrients the bottle says to add as per the amount of water you add. So basically every time you add water to fill up the reservoir, add in nutrients as needed per that amount of water you added. Then do the pH testing and adjust as needed. After a while if you're always adding in the same amount of water+nutrients when you top up, you get to know how much pH adjuster ( + or - ) you need and you can stop taking readings, but that's when you're confident and sure :-)
Also remember that in the first month or so when the plants are just little seedlings, they don't need a lot of nutrients so only give half strength of whatever you are using. A little less is safer than too much! So as not to burn the plants (nutrient burn).
Hope that helps!
Joel - do you water from the top or bottom of the tray only? I live in FL and I keep my seedlings outside and I'm going on week 7 with very little growth.
Hey Stacey, whenever possible always water seedlings from the bottom, especially if they are sitting out for quite a long while and Algae begins to develop, won't necessarily hurt the plants at least not in short term but light and moisture does propagate the algae. If your seeds have sprouted and you're not having a germination issue, just slow growth, there's 3 main factors to look at:
1) stressing plant with too much water or the cubes drying out too frequently (I don't know what your temperature are so.... hotter weather obviously will wick water away more.
2) inadequate light. Light is the key factor for promoting growth at these early stages.
3) starving plants lol. If you are keeping them in rockwool cubes well past the plants establishing their true leaves, or even more than 1 or 2 nodes, these plants are gonna be hungry! A very diluted liquid nutrient solution can be added to the watering tray to remedy that.
bonus 4) lol. If the ambient temperature is too low the moistened rockwool cubes might actually get cold to the touch, especially if outside in shade and it isn't that hot. These extreme temperatures can inhibit growth, whether too hot, or too cold, which you can feel when you touch the rockwool cubes. Remember too that some plants prefer colder weather and others much hotter weather, this will affect their early growth naturally, if growing a little out of season!
These are the main factors that come to my mind atm. Hope it helps shine some light for ya! no pun intended :P
The big question. If you have time. What nutrient solution do you use, because you seem to grow a wide variety of plants. And what pH do you keep for this type of growth. Thank you
Hey there! So for the Tower Garden specifically I use the Tower Tonic solutions (A and B) which are sold by the company (Juice Plus+). They seem to cover the wide array of nutrients needed for optimal plant growth, in liquid form, for use in Hydroponics. I think the key to the Tower Tonics working well for nearly any plant you can grow in the Tower, is that it's pretty low on the NPK numbers and each of the 3 are in very close proximity to each other, quantity wise. So I think this doesn't over excite or neglect any plants' general needs. Also, I keep my pH at 6.5, I find that in general this is the most Universal marker for just about any plant I can grow in the Tower, and keeps everything relatively happy! Sometimes I get lazy and don't pH adjust the water if it's off a bit (after adding more water or Tonic) and I might notice a little "nutrient burn" on plant leaves, or discolorations likely from uptake deficiencies, but yet the plants don't die :-P
I hope that helps!!
Good luck with your Garden!
Hi Joel where can I get tower complete set
Regards Moses
Hi Moses,
This system is available on Tower Garden's web site. This is their Canadian web site
www.towergarden.ca/shop
They also have their American web site too.
They recommend using half strength tonic when full grown plants transpire so heavily.
Yeah that's what I do too. Less tonic, more water, cuz they are drinking way more water than nutrients in hot weather!
My lettuce is always long and spindly. What causes that? My house in winter isnt really warm; do they need more nutrients?
Hey Eunice! Good question, this is common. It's not a nutrient issue it is a lighting issue. The lettuce REALLY wants a lot of LIGHT, and especially in the beginning when they are smaller and further away from the lights, they will stretch out and spindle around to try and get to the light. You really kinda need to germinate them first closely under T5's or equivalent, like I do in my DIY Hydroponics Unit, and when they are pretty well established transfer them to the Tower then, or try bringing the lights closer, and/or add 1 or 2 more lights to surround the tower. Excessive heat in the room will also cause this but does not sound like this is your problem, so 100%, lighting issue :-)
This should help you begin remedying the problem!
Hi
I have so many questions.
1 does it require electricity?
2- can you do root vegetables? Radishes/carrots etc..
3- can you grow corn?
4 - price? Is it worth expense?
5- The nutrients. I have s family of 4 and the summer garden consists of your tower garden. What is the expense for a year worth of gardening this way?
Thank you!I!!
Hey there! I can answer most of what you asked about.
Yes the submersible pump requires to be plugged into a power outlet/extension cord. If you're using this outside you can just run an outdoors extension cord (green to match your lawn :-) ) and plug it to that. It uses very little power so if you wanted to get "fancy" you could even see what's available for home use in terms of solar powered generators/batteries and use that instead! That'd be helpful if the power in your house went out :-P Which happened to me once and good thing I was home to manually put water through the tower until power came back lol, but this is not really an issue any pump requires power no matter what system you use!
No, you cannot do root veggies. I mean you could for the green foliage but it would grow pretty abysmally and no edible root would develop. Basically you can grow anything that's not specifically a tuber/root or shrub/tree :-)
You should not grow corn for the same reason you shouldn't grow standard Broccoli. Aside from the fact that they are very heavy feeders for nutrients, some plants just develop Massive root systems which would be cumbersome on the Tower to keep the water everything else going efficiently. Some things are just best in soil, or a different style of hydroponics system that's not vertical.
In Canada where I live a Tower Garden costs $617, I know it costs less in the USA.
Since they let you purchase it split over 12 month period interest free, that's quite affordable I feel, for a very durable system! For ease and convenience I think it's worth the money.
I'm not certain the entirety of what you're asking in your 5th point, but generally speaking one standard shipment of the Tower Tonic nutrient blends will last a whole season, for outside use. I use waaaaaay less using the Tower inside (although inside you have the added expense of running grow lights). So since rockwool cubes for growing medium are super cheap at ANY hydroponics store, and the nutrients last all year (generally) and pH+ or pH- can also be purchased very cost effectively at any local hydroponics store, honestly the cost of growing this way is super cheap. The big thing is just the initial investment of the tower that will last for years and years and years.
I think you're good now :-)
Good luck!
Thank you for your response. ☺
Oops 1 more question!
Seeds - do U need to buy the seeds from them? I have seeds that are from Baker's Creek, and would hate to give up heirlooms.
@@circuscats67 my friend you can use ANY seeds you like from anywhere :-D
Small seeds use 3 or 4 large seeds use at least 2 per rockwool cube. Then thin them out later by picking the one strongest seedling. This will ensure you don't get any duds.
Thank you again!
how much minerals do you put in it ?
Hey there,
I have a system set up where I keep two, 20L pales filled with water, ready to fill up the Reservoir when needed, and for EACH 20L of water I add in 105ml of Tonic A and 105ml of Tonic B into the reservoir for each refill I do. In fact I have it all pre-calculated after enough practice that I know eactly what needs to go in with each refill, that for me what I do, is put in 1 tablespoon of the pH DOWN solution (to balance the tap water pH), 205ml each of both Tonics, and THEN I pour in the 40L of water. Putting the water in last blends everything together nicely, saving me from even needing to stir, works out great :-)
I hope that helps ya!
Joel Simoes
When do you need to replenish the nutrients? At what water level you need to do that?
what brand seeds to you buy?
I just get whatever is locally available. I stopped buying online from outside of Canada in particular because of sometimes really poor germination, so I suspect irradiation occurs at border crossing or something, who knows. But there's always something available for pretty much anyone in your local neighbourhood, be at big box stores or garden centers. I've even seen seeds at Dollar Stores lol. Don't get to wrapped up on whether seeds are "organic" or not, because that doesn't mean anything. Organic refers to a method of more natural agriculture, it imparts nothing onto a seed you are starting with. The cool thing to do, is let some of your favourite veggies go to Seed and save them to plant next season! Not only do you not have to hunt down seeds for stuff you really like this way, but also those seeds will be better acclimated in their genetics, to the environment you are growing them in.
But to answer your question in short lol....
Here in Ontario I've often opted for Urban Harvest, or Vesies, maybe some others I can't recall off top of my head.
Good luck with your growing!
@@CardinalGardener GREAT! Thanks for getting back so fast.
@@sunnyfloridaagent I was right by the computer when the notification popped up lol
you are welcome :-)